Luke 14 – Who would YOU invite?

Is this man a genuine seeker after truth like Nicodemus, the teacher who John’s gospel records meeting Jesus by night?

Or is he there to be observed or even tested? Why is there a very ill man in front of Jesus. I may be wrong but the image of this man being used like some sort of grotesque centerpiece at a dinner party will not leave my mind.

And so Jesus again uses what is around Him to teach others about the Kingdom.

Read the two banquet parables carefully and ask yourself

Who is Jesus for?

Who does Jesus oppose?

The easy answer to question 1 is “Everyone” but is that what is being said here?

The parable of the great banquet is another of the set piece parables in Luke’s account. It is so very powerful as a foretelling of the way God’s kingdom will not come to the powerful and rich, but to the undeserving poor!

And then, to his disciples and to the crowds flocking around him Jesus says

Luke 14:26-27 NIV

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. [27] And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Hate?!

HATE!!!

Recently a friend who no longer believes in Jesus challenged me about this very phrase. Hate is such a strong and challenging word. Surely God is LOVE?

And yet the word appears 127 times in our English translation and quite a few of those are spoken of God.

What does God hate?

Injustice. Sin. Hypocrisy. Evil.

How does it make you feel when the Bible says HATE.

But Jesus says the word of family!

My interpretation of this is that our devotion to Jesus and His Kingdom has to be first and far above any other. Family, work or leisure must not be allowed to replace that first devotion. They are not wrong – indeed on the cross Jesus uses precious breath to commend his mother to another son, but our first and primary love and devotion has to be to Jesus. By comparison all else is as hatred, just as a candle is bright in a dark room, but invisible in the full light of the Sun.